Part 8 All 3 Hydras opened fired and many salvos of the Hydras cannon splashed Void shots all around the Heretic Gatelord. It quickly evaded and sent the remainder of his Minotaur legion forward. The Minotaurs broke the hydras formation by claiming their attention. This allowed the Heretic to press the advantage. The Guardian continued to take down Minotaurs which gathered energy for the weapon. The space around the Guardian rippled as energy was unleashed. Again, the Heretic Gatelord fell to its knee and was surrounded by a blazing rage of pure solar energy. The Guardians shockwave rippled and flowed around the Heretic doing nothing. Minotaurs were subject to the blast and the Hydras finished a good number of them off. The Heretic stood and unleashed its tentacle. The tentacle flew and pierced through a Hydras armour completely. It went through its body and came out the other side. The tentacle became barb like on the other side grasping the Hydra in place. The Heretic shifted its weight and whipped the Hydra harshly to the left. With great force the Hydra collided with the last remaining Hydra companion. Their shields shattered and the Hydra that had been whipped broke down, charged to a bright glow and exploded in a great flash. The explosive took out the last Hydra which exploded shortly after. “Any ideas?” The Guardian asked their Ghost. “No, I don’t understand. The Hydra said the weapon they designed would be capable of surpassing its fortifications. But the shockwave isn’t doing anything.” Ghost said discouraged. Suddenly, the Hydra leader teleported in front of the Guardian. The Heretics tentacle ran clean through the Hydra leader. The Hydra leader was tossed into the wall but one of their shields took most of the force. It floated off the wall and attempted to retaliate. It floated closer to its opponent. The Heretic fiercely hunted it down and charged forward. It lowered its shoulder and rammed through the Hydras damaged shield, shattering it. The other two shields flickered and faded. The Hydra slammed against the wall again and crashed to the floor. The Heretic harshly put its right foot on the Hydas body to pin it down. It writhed and wiggled with the little strength it had. The Heretic readied its torch cannon and shot the Hydra in its chest. It’s squirming slowed. In one quick motion the Heretic shattered the Hydras eye with its right foot. Part 9 Ghost appeared from the Guardians hip and screamed, “Noooo!” Together they ran towards the Heretic to avenge their ally. The Heretic spun on its torso, readied its torch canon and released a volley. The blast knocked the Guardian and Ghost flying back the way they came. They slid to a halt. A handful of Minotaurs rushed to their position. The Guardian shook off the daze from the blast and sprung to their feet. A Minotaur had picked up Ghost and headed off to deliver it to the Heretic. 3 Minotaurs stood before the guardian cutting them off. The Guardian instinctively struck the Minotaur in the middle with a melee, pushing the Minotaur back. They quickly readied the weapon and fired on the Minotaur on their left. However, the Void shield shrugged off the rounds. The Minotaur pursued the Guardian with a melee. The Guardian dodged by dashing to their right. The Minotaur on the their right reached out and grabbed their right arm and smashed the weapon out of their grasp. The Guardian evasively spun out the Minotaurs hold. They gracefully planted a grenade and with a great shove, pushed the Minotaur in the other direction. The grenade detonated and rocked a couple Minotaurs. Unexpectedly, a Minotaur snuck up from behind the Guardian and subdued them. The remaining handful of Minotaurs united and lashed out a series of heavy blows. The Guardian fell to the ground and tried to reclaim their weapon. A Minotaur stepped on their arm and kicked the weapon away. The Minotaur that had captured Ghost delivered Ghost to the Heretic Gatelord. The Gatelord plucked Ghost up and began to commune with Ghost. Several Minotaurs circled the Guardians beaten body. The one closest to the Guardian picked them up by the arm so the Gatelord can address them. In a ragged voice, Ghost said, “You succeed in my salvation. But you failed in defeating me Lightbearer Anomaly. Now burn.” The Minotaurs ganged up and dog piled the Guardian. They all begin to form up and fuse their bodies together by sacrificing themselves. With no intended teleportation, the Minotaurs would heat up and melt in place. The Minotaurs viciously rallied together to burn their adversary. The Guardian screamed in pain as the Minotaurs melted and fused their bodies to the Guardian. The Guardians flesh began to burn away as the Minotaurs phased into one. The Heretic Gatelord held Ghost towards his Guardian. Ghost watched helplessly as his companion was being burnt alive. The Gatelord flicked Ghost towards his partner. Ghost flew and landed on the arm of a Minotaur and slowly began to fuse into it. The fusion of the Guardian, their Ghost and shimmering white Minotaurs gave the Gatelord a sense of triumph, if a machine could feel such a thing. In their last moments the Guardian reached out to the Minotaurs arm and wrapped their burnt left hand around their Ghost. The ball of chaos, metal, flesh, screams and pain, finally cooled to a hardened state. Whiffs of smoke gingerly floated from the hardened figure. The Heretic approached the weapon the Lightbearer Anomaly had wielded. The Heretic summoned and examined it. Such an odd construct. They threw it away in disgust. The Lightbearer was not an anomaly. No, it was a feeble miscalculation that somehow intervened with too many of the Vexes’ plans. That would end today the Heretic thought. The Heretic took one last look at the Hydra, the weapon and the remains of the Lightbearer Anomaly. The Heretic prepared itself, harnessing itself in a statue like state to calculate its jump into the timestreams. It would need those brief moments of absolute stillness to calculate which timeline it would conquer first. [i]The Heretic Gatelord begins to open the timestreams…[/i] Just posted the final part, part 10 Thanks for reading!